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The afterlife of Brian

Eric Idle, left, Jean Stilwell and Christopher Sieber perform during a dress rehearsal for Not the Messiah at Roy Thomson Hall. The show is based on the film Life of Brian, and also features the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Mendelssohn Choir. (ANDREW WALLACE / TORONTO STAR)

By John Terauds

Sun., May 27, 2007

It's not too often that the music hall gets to kiss the concert hall. It's also not often that a city gets a festival on the scale of Luminato and its 100-plus free and ticketed presentations of music, theatre, dance, and everything else under the performing arts sun.

Starting on Friday night, highbrow and lowbrow give each other a good pluck as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra premieres Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy), a mock oratorio by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, the creators of the hit musical Spamalot.

"I call it `baroque 'n' roll,'" says Idle on the phone from his home in L.A. Toronto Symphony conductor Peter Oundjian is also on the line as he takes a break from rehearsing the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Idle is one of the handful of enduringly productive comedians who cut their comic teeth in the 1970s Monty Python comedy juggernaut. Oundjian, the music director of the Toronto Symphony, is a former classical violinist who belonged to one of the most serious and respected chamber ensembles in the world, the Tokyo String Quartet.

The two are first cousins. Both grew up in England (although Oundjian is Toronto-born). And this is the first time they have worked together. Last week, Idle was in town with the vocal soloists, orchestra, conductor and the huge Toronto Mendelssohn Choir to put Not the Messiah through its paces in rehearsal and in front of a selected test audience of about 100 people.

"It's been fun for me to see the other at work in his milieu – creating humour, creating timing, making it better," says Oundjian. "Eric sees the conductor putting together the musical side."

"There are 105 musicians onstage," replies Idle. "And four bagpipes."

"Let's hope they're musicians, too," jokes Oundjian.

"No, bagpipes don't count," Idle retorts.

The prolific comedy writer, creator and actor has described the new show thus: "As Messiah was to the Bible, so Not the Messiah is to Life of Brian. It is shorter than Handel, funnier than Handel, but obviously not as good theologically."

The 1979 movie, in which Idle played several characters in and out of drag – including one called Intensely Dull Youth – has become a cult classic. But the actor repeats the point several times that Not the Messiah is not just another version of the movie or the musical Spamalot.

The new show is going to be a work-in-progress until the lights dim at Roy Thomson Hall. And no one was going to let a member of the media see a copy of Idle's script or Du Prez's score. So we have to rely on Idle and Oundjian's descriptions.

"John Du Prez describes it best," says Idle. "He called it iPod Shuffle music. Our evening is sort of like that. It never settles in one style."

Oundjian says there are musical numbers that mimic several different styles, including one song in which Idle does a Bob Dylan imitation. There is even a mock-Mozart duet. "It's very sophisticated music."

"Yah, the Mamas and the Papagenas," quips Idle.

The story itself starts with the Life of Brian, "but as seen through the eyes of different characters," Idle says. "It's not just about getting laughs. Otherwise we could have just read the film script."

"There are moments of great tenderness," says Oundjian. He adds that you don't have to know anything about classical music to appreciate the show. Idle says there's no need to see the movie.

The cousins sound like they are happy about last week's rehearsals. But comedy is the performing world's most delicate balancing act.

Idle says he is "more than aware" of all the cases where a show's creators and actors have laughed themselves to tears during rehearsals, only to face a stone-faced audience on opening night. "Comedy is a science," says the man who has spent nearly half a century trying to make people laugh. "You test it on an audience."

At the rehearsal, "we found out where the laughs are and where they aren't," says Idle. It also helped Oundjian time the music. "Sometimes you want the music to continue while the audience is laughing," he says. "Sometimes you want complete silence before it starts up again."

Did the test audience laugh where it was supposed to? Yes, answer both men emphatically. "I was inspired by last week's billionth rehearsal," adds Idle. He says that the script is only a blueprint and that it's in rehearsing and performing "that you create something that has three or four dimensions."

It also helps to have great help. The soloists include soprano Shannon Mercer, who is the most promising of the most recent crop of young Toronto-trained singers.

Stage veteran Jean Stilwell will also be on stage alongside Idle, who describes his voice as "baritone-ish."

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, know what I mean ...

Not The Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) is performed at Roy Thomson Hall on June 1, 2 and 4 by Idle, Christopher Sieber, Theodore Baerg, Shannon Mercer and Jean Stilwell with the TSO and the Mendelssohn Choir, conducted by Peter Oundjian. For tickets, call TicketMaster at 416-872-1111 or go to www.luminato.com.

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